One voice says God has a form, a name, and can be loved. Another says God is beyond all form, and that tying Him to a shape is childish. A person caught between the two asks what the Gita wants from them.
Arjuna puts this very question to Lord Krishna, and the answer is plain. The one who fixes the mind on the Lord, stays steady and worships with supreme faith is the most united (Gita 12.2). The road of the formless also reaches the Lord, but it is much harder for those who live in a body (Gita 12.4, Gita 12.5).
Here we take the five verses in order, see how other chapters back the answer, and end with a simple practice.
What lies behind Arjuna's question
In chapter 11 Arjuna has seen the cosmic form. Near its close the Lord says that only through undivided devotion can He be known in truth, seen, and entered (Gita 11.54). He then lists the marks of such a devotee: one who works for Him, holds Him as the highest goal, and is free from attachment and from enmity (Gita 11.55).
Listening to this, Arjuna is left with a natural question. What of those who hold to no form and worship the imperishable, unmanifest Reality? Chapter 12 begins with that question.
Verse 12.1: what Arjuna is asking
एवं सततयुक्ता ये भक्तास्त्वां पर्युपासते ।
ये चाप्यक्षरमव्यक्तं तेषां के योगवित्तमाः ॥ १२.१ ॥
evaṁ satata-yuktā ye bhaktās tvāṁ paryupāsate |
ye chāpy akṣharam avyaktaṁ teṣhāṁ ke yoga-vittamāḥ || 12.1 ||
Arjuna said: There are devotees who are constantly steadfast and worship You in Your personal, manifest form. There are others who meditate on the imperishable and unmanifest Reality. Of these two kinds of seekers, who, in Your view, is better established in yoga and more perfect in spiritual union?
Arjuna sets two kinds of seekers side by side. The first are always absorbed in the Lord and worship Him in His form. The second worship the imperishable, unmanifest Reality. He asks which of them knows yoga best (Gita 12.1).
Arjuna calls neither of them wrong. He wants to know which is more firmly established. So the answer will be a comparison between the two, and it will not throw either one out.
Verse 12.2: the Lord's answer
मय्यावेश्य मनो ये मां नित्ययुक्ता उपासते ।
श्रद्धया परयोपेतास्ते मे युक्ततमा मताः ॥ १२.२ ॥
mayy āveśhya mano ye māṁ nitya-yuktā upāsate |
śhraddhayā parayopetās te me yuktatamā matāḥ || 12.2 ||
The Blessed Lord said: Those who fix their mind on Me, who are ever steadfast, and who worship Me with supreme faith, are considered by Me to be the most perfect in yoga.
The Lord says that those who fix the mind on Him, are ever steadfast, and worship with supreme faith are, in His view, the most perfect yogis (Gita 12.2).
Three things are named. The first is the mind placed in the Lord: the centre of the worship is Him, and the mind rests there. The second is steadiness: not an occasional mood but "ever joined." The third is faith, and the verse calls it supreme, which means trust in the worship itself.
The Lord also names no particular method. All three marks are inner. The question is not how to worship but how firmly.
One shift is easy to miss. Arjuna asked who knows yoga best. The Lord answers by choosing the one who is most joined. The measure is not how much a person knows but where the mind is. The verdict of chapter 6 turns on the same word: the most joined, in the Lord's view, is the one who worships with faith (Gita 6.47).
Verses 12.3-4: the road of the unmanifest also reaches the Lord
सर्वत्रगमचिन्त्यं च कूटस्थमचलं ध्रुवम् ॥ १२.३ ॥
sarvatra-gam achintyaṁ cha kūṭa-stham achalaṁ dhruvam || 12.3 ||
But those who worship the imperishable, the indefinable, and the unmanifest, which is all-pervading, beyond thought, changeless, unmoving, and eternal, also attain the Supreme. (The sentence is completed in the next verse, where Krishna says such seekers, who master their senses and look upon all with equal vision, also reach Him.)
ते प्राप्नुवन्ति मामेव सर्वभूतहिते रताः ॥ १२.४ ॥
te prāpnuvanti mām eva sarva-bhūta-hite ratāḥ || 12.4 ||
Those seekers who have fully restrained all their senses, who look upon everyone and every situation with equal vision, and who take delight in the welfare of all beings also attain Me alone. This completes the thought begun in the previous verse: worshippers of the imperishable and unmanifest Reality also reach the Supreme, provided they are disciplined, even-minded, and compassionate.
Now the Lord speaks of the other seekers. They worship the imperishable that cannot be pointed to in words, the unmanifest, the all-pervading, what lies beyond thought, the unchanging, the unmoving and the constant (Gita 12.3).
Each term is simple. This is what you cannot point a finger at and say, "It is this." What is not in one place but everywhere. What thought cannot reach. What stays the same through every change. What does not move, and always is. We can neither see it nor name it.
These are the words the Gita also uses of the self. In chapter 2 the self is called unmanifest, beyond thought and unchanging (Gita 2.25). So the road of the formless looks toward what the Gita describes in the same terms as the self.
The next verse completes the sentence (Gita 12.4). These seekers also reach Me alone, under three conditions: they must fully restrain the senses, look on all alike, and take delight in the good of all beings.
Two points need holding. First, the road of the formless is not condemned. It too reaches "Me alone." Second, the three conditions do not belong to this road alone. The Gita asks them of every seeker: sages who work for the good of all beings attain deep peace (Gita 5.25), and the one who sees all as himself is the highest yogi in the Lord's view (Gita 6.32).
Verse 12.5: why the road of the unmanifest is hard
अव्यक्ता हि गतिर्दुःखं देहवद्भिरवाप्यते ॥ १२.५ ॥
avyaktā hi gatir duḥkhaṁ dehavadbhir avāpyate || 12.5 ||
For those whose minds are fixed on the unmanifest, the struggle is much greater, because the path of the unmanifest is reached with great difficulty by embodied beings. Having said that the formless path also leads to Him, Krishna now honestly points out how demanding it is for those who still live with body-consciousness.
For those whose minds are fixed on the unmanifest the struggle is greater, because the goal of the unmanifest is reached with difficulty by embodied beings (Gita 12.5).
The reason is plain. We live in a body. Thinking, feeling and loving all lean on a form, a name or a person. Someone who wants to rest on the unmanifest must first learn to go without that support, and the sense of the body pulls him back at every step.
Devotion fits the embodied for the same reason. Our attention goes where our love goes, and love needs someone we can call our own. The three marks of the Lord's answer, a mind placed, steadiness and faith (Gita 12.2), are what love already does. The devotee does not have to put the body-sense down first. He moves forward by leaning on it.
The verse does not call the road of the unmanifest false or useless. It says that the road asks much. The Lord does not hide this. He tells us honestly which road is heavier.
The two roads side by side
| Devotion to the Lord in a form | Worship of the unmanifest | |
|---|---|---|
| What the mind rests on | The Lord, with whom the mind can have a bond | The imperishable, beyond thought |
| What is asked | Mind placed, steadiness, faith | Senses restrained, even sight, the good of all |
| Where it ends | With the Lord | "Me alone," the Lord |
| The effort | Natural to the mind | Far harder for the embodied |
What the rest of the Gita adds
The Lord's verdict does not stand alone. Other chapters echo it.
In chapter 6 the same judgement is given: of all yogis, the one who with faith turns his inner self to the Lord and worships Him is, in the Lord's view, the most united (Gita 6.47).
Chapters 11 and 18 show that devotion is not outside the road of knowledge. Through devotion one knows the Lord in truth, and having known Him enters Him (Gita 18.55). Knowing, seeing and entering are all completed by undivided devotion (Gita 11.54).
In chapter 4 the Lord says that however people approach Him, He responds in the same way (Gita 4.11). So He is not bound to one manner of approach.
In chapters 8 and 9 the unmanifest turns out to be the Lord's own. What is called unmanifest and imperishable is the highest goal and the Lord's supreme abode (Gita 8.21), and the Lord pervades the whole world in His unmanifest form (Gita 9.4). So the one who worships the unmanifest does not go to someone else. He is trying to reach one form of the same Lord.
Four common misreadings
"Worshipping the formless is useless." The verse does not say so. It says these seekers too reach Me alone (Gita 12.4). A hard road is not a worthless road.
"Devotion is for those who cannot think." The Gita calls the devotee the most united of all yogis (Gita 6.47), and says that through devotion one knows the Lord in truth (Gita 18.55). Devotion does not replace thought. It is one way of knowing.
"Pick one road and drop the other." The Lord speaks of both as reaching Him. Their conditions differ, but neither is looked down on.
"Devotion needs no discipline." Restrained senses, even sight and the good of all are asked of every seeker in the Gita (Gita 5.25, Gita 6.32). The devotee's mind does not stay steady without them either.
An example
Take Meera, who teaches at a school. Someone tells her that God has no form, so there is no need to dwell on one. Each morning she sits to meditate on the formless. Within days she sees that the mind will not settle. It runs to school, to the kitchen, to tomorrow's work.
In the evening she hums a bhajan to Lord Krishna, and in a few minutes her mind grows quiet. She does not count this as failure, and she does not decide that the formless road is false. She simply learns which road her mind can walk today.
She also keeps one check. After the bhajan, is she gentler with her students? Can she look on all alike? These are the very conditions the verse sets (Gita 12.4).
A week later the evening bhajan is her fixed time. The description of the formless still moves her: imperishable, all-pervading, beyond thought (Gita 12.3). But she knows her mind does not rest there yet. She feels no shame, because the verse itself says the road is hard for the embodied.
A practice drawn from these verses
- Choose one way of keeping the Lord in mind: a name, a form or a verse.
- Stay with it. Same time each day, for a short while. This is what "ever joined" asks (Gita 12.2).
- Keep faith. At first the mind will wander. Faith means returning to the same practice.
- Make three checks. At the end of the day ask: how well were the senses held, how even was my sight, and for whose good did I act (Gita 12.4)?
- What does my mind settle on most easily: a form, a name, or a feeling?
- Have I begun to call the harder road higher and the easier road lower?
- Of the three conditions, which is weakest in me?
The answer in a few lines
Arjuna asked who is best. The Lord answered that the one whose mind is on Him, who is steady and whose faith is supreme, is the most united. The road of the unmanifest also reaches Him, but for those in a body it is hard. So look at your own mind, walk the road on which it rests, and keep the three conditions beside you. The same judgement was given earlier, in chapter 6:
श्रद्धावान्भजते यो मां स मे युक्ततमो मतः॥ ६.४७॥
śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ || 6.47 ||
Among all yogis, the one who, with unwavering faith, fixes the mind and heart on Me and lovingly worships Me is considered by Me to be the most perfectly united and the highest of all yogis.
Read more: the same idea in simple words · the deeper reading · the whole topic